Romeo and Lou Blast Off is available
at your local bookstore
or online

From Children's LiteratureAnderson's colorful illustrations certainly have factored into the
success of the Little Quack books, and they are likely to play a
role popularizing this story which Anderson has authored and illustrated,
too. Certainly Anderson has a way of showing expression in the turn
of a beak or mouth as friends Romeo the Penguin and Lou the Polar
Bear are propelled by a snowship rocket from ice floes into an urban
landscape. Children are likely to greatly enjoy knowing better than
the two characters as they mistake signposts for strange trees and
two construction workers for walruses. It doesn't take long for the
two to begin looking for a way to return home. They are able to do
so thanks to a rocketship they construct out of a cardboard box.
This book very playfully celebrates imaginative play and deserves
a place in home or classroom libraries. Reviewer: Mary Hynes-Berry

From
BooklistAlthough
real penguins and polar bears live poles apart, in this picture
book fantasy Romeo (a penguin) and Lou (a polar bear) live together
in an unspecified snowy locale. Dashing out of their house to play,
they use the newly fallen snow to build a pretend rocket ship.
Suddenly, it blasts off, transporting the terrified duo to what
they believe is another planet, but children will recognize it
as a city. After a series of amusing mistakes, they manage to stumble
onto a ship bound for home. Although the story is a bit silly,
children will enjoy the amusing mishaps and the feeling that they
know more than these likable but naive travelers. From the unlikely
plot to the color, clarity, and comic exaggeration of artwork,
this picture book resembles an old-fashioned animated kids' cartoon.
Brightly illustrated with acrylic paints, it offers an accessible,
unpretentious tale of two innocents abroad who misinterpret unfamiliar
sights according to what they know and somehow muddle through to
a happy ending.-Carolyn Phelan